William Witte, Jr. House

2547 Walnut Street

Built in 1887

William Witte, Jr. was an accomplished local carpenter in Blue Island. In the spring of 1887, he began building a charming two story house at what was then 150 Walnut Street. At the time, there were only five other homes on the block. The house took a year to build and all of the construction, including laying the sandstone foundation, was done by Witte.

The house features handsome Gothic-inspired Eastlake trim and a decorative bay window that once offered views of Maple Avenue and the wooded land to the west. The interior was originally heated by two potbellied stoves and lit by kerosene lamps until steam radiators and electricity were installed in the early twentieth century.

The house remains a virtually unaltered example of 1880s vernacular architecture. In 1975 it was listed on the Inventory of Historic Structures in Cook County and is included in the State of Illinois Historic and Architectural Resources Geographic Information System.